Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom

Escaping arranged marriages, two young South African men disappear into the night to begin a new life.

This incident is just one of many used by Mandela to describe life under apartheid.

Following the death of his father, Mandela had been brought up under the guardianship of a local chief, whom he calls "the regent". The regent treated Mandela as his own son, educating him at some of the best schools.

In this rural environment, tribal ties were still very important, as was the feudal hierarchy. Mandela was treated with deference because of his relationship to the regent. He identified himself as a Thembu, rather than an African or even a South African.

He describes the importance of traditional rituals such as the circumcision ceremony, which was necessary in order for a boy to attain the status of an adult. However, a local chief, during a public ceremony welcoming the new adult males back to the village, declared that they would never truly be men. Under the rules of apartheid, they would always be treated as children.

The schools Mandela attended were funded by the Methodists. Similarly, Nigerian novelist Buchi Emecheta was given a scholarship by Methodists. She went on to pen over 20 novels. In this interview with Buchi, she emphasises the importance of education for all women.

Mandela believed it was important to have a degree in order to be a leader. But as an adult, he soon learned that the best-informed people he met had not necessarily had formal education.

It was only fitting that the regent should arrange Mandela's marriage along with that of his son before passing away. But the two youths had other ideas.

Running away was a complicated business. They could not travel to or enter a major city such as Johannesburg without the proper documents. As they didn't have them, they had to lie, deceive and connive, and were humiliated every time they were found out.

Mandela makes it clear that, even before the most oppressive laws were put in place, apartheid contaminated every aspect of life for Black South Africans.

He states, "To be an African in South Africa means that one is politicized from the moment of one's birth ... an African child is born in an Africans Only hospital, taken home in an Africans Only bus, lives in an Africans Only area and attends Africans Only schools, if he atends school at all.

"When he grows up, he can hold Africans Only jobs, rent a house in Africans Only townships, ride Africans Only trains and be stopped at any time of the day or night and be ordered to produce a pass, without which he can be arrested and thrown in jail."

This echoes the experience of African American people, which is one reason why, like Mandela's election, the election of President Obama is such an exceptionally important moment in history.

Mandela describes living in abject poverty, paying for his housing and transport as well as his university education from his meagre wage. As an African, he was not allowed to live in the city, but had to live in a township and commute back and forth in an Africans-only bus. He only owned one suit, which had been given to him by a colleague, and he often only had one hot meal per week, provided by his landlord.

He describes the terrible living and working conditions of the many African men who travelled from all over the country as well as various Southern African countries to find employment in South Africa's mines. This situation still continues to this day and contributes to the spread of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. For more on this, see What Can We Learn from Elton John?

Working as an articled clerk in a law firm, he was able to escape the fate of working in the mines.

The South African government's policy was to divide people according to their racial and cultural backgrounds. The hostels in which men lived while working in the mines were often divided according to tribal groupings, as part of the divide-and-rule policy to encourage divisive attitudes.

But as an adult living in a township, Mandela learned to identify himself, not only as a Thembu, but as an African united with other Africans.

Working with the ANC, he learned the importance of working alongside Asians and mixed-race people (known as "coloureds"), who were all affected by apartheid, albeit in different ways.

Mandela is renowned as a peacemaker. President Obama is another leader in this mould.

Although humiliated for many years in South African prisons, Mandela retained his dignity and won the respect of his guards. Although the ANC, the political party of which he was a leader, decided they had to resort to violence due to the failure of their long-term efforts to find a nonviolent solution, in the end, Mandela emphasised the need to have one South Africa for all of its citizens, and forgiveness rather than reprisals.